Zwizanski dominates in return

Michael Kirby • Auburn JournalScott Zwizanski of Team Kelly Benefit Strategies won the men’s pro category at Sunday’s Auburn Criterium, two weeks after he raced down the same straightaway during the Amgen Tour of California.

Michael Kirby • Auburn JournalEmily Kachorek of Wells Fargo Racing Team celebrates her second criterium victory in as many days Sunday in Downtown Auburn.

Chris Jones remained in 17th place overall in the Tour of California. The Auburn rider is 6 minutes, 2 seconds behind the leader.

Emily Kachorek

Brian Rouse

Scott Zwizanski didn’t race the 2009 Auburn Criterium, but he was familiar enough with the course Sunday to cruise to victory in this year’s event.
Exactly two weeks after riding up Lincoln Way with his Kelly Benefit Strategies teammates and the rest of the peloton during the opening stage of the Amgen Tour of California, Zwizanski won the pro men’s competition to cap a full day of racing on the 1.2-mile downtown loop.
Zwizanski, who placed 26th in the Tour of California last Sunday, dominated a criterium field of 20 pro riders and beat hometown star Chris Jones of Team Type I, who finished a distant second despite a strong push over the final three laps of the 60-minute race.
“It was a good, hard course,” said Zwizanski, a seventh-year pro who lives in the Bay Area’s Mill Valley and has already competed in Asia, France and Uruguay this year. “It’s nice when you don’t have to fly to a race.”
Zwizanski, 33, waited patiently until halfway through Sunday’s race to make his move.
“After everyone was tired from going up the hill one of the times, I just kind of attacked on a flat where it was windy,” he said. “I got a gap and just kept it rolling. I’m sure they all looked at each other and there was a little bit of indecision on who should chase me and that gave me my chance to get away. I picked my spot where I was going to do it earlier in the race, but I tried to wait until around halfway to go for it.”
Jones finished nearly a minute behind, one week after beating Zwizanski by more than 33 total minutes in the eight-stage Amgen Tour. Jones, Zwizanski and their respective teammates will be back in action against riders from 18 other teams next Sunday at the Philadelphia International Championship, a 156-mile race around a 14.4-mile circuit.
Peter Graf, who took sixth in last year’s Criterium, was third Sunday.
Wells Fargo Racing Team’s Emily Kachorek breezed to victory in the pro women’s race, just a day after winning the Folsom Criterium.
“This was an awesome weekend,” said Kachorek, a former UC Davis cyclist who was fifth in Auburn last May. “Two wins in a weekend, you can’t complain. I’m pretty happy about it. This is an awesome course. It’s always really fun to race in a downtown venue. The hill makes it challenging and the downhills are pretty technical. It’s tactical, but at the same time it’s also really a fitness course. It’s fun.”
Kachorek beat runner-up Ruth Winder and third-place Jane Robinson, last year’s winner.
Kachorek’s latest criterium victories came in her final tune-ups for the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota in mid-June.
Among the top local performers was Brian Rouse of Auburn Bike Works, who won the Masters 35-plus 4 and 5 category ahead of Victory Velo’s Troy Soares, who finished fourth.
For complete results, visit www.globalbiorhythmevents.com.